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The Indians were able to play all their scheduled games last week, a nice change of pace from the season's opening seven days. It was a very even week for the Tribe, as they not only won three and lost three, they also scored 23 runs and allowed 23 runs. Treading water while awaiting the return of Michael Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall isn't the worst thing in the world, though the team still hasn't been more than a game above .500 since the end of 2014, and it'd be nice to see the team clear that mark before someone else in the division pulls ahead of them by seven or eight games.
Previous winners:
The Candidates
Carlos Carrasco
Carrasco faced the Rays on Wednesday, and pitched a beauty. He went eight innings on just 93 pitches, recording eight strikeouts while allowing only one run on four hits and one walk. It was a very nice recovery from his first start of the season, a rocky outing against Boston last week.
Jason Kipnis
Kipnis hit .304/.385/.565 last week, and hit his first home run of the season on Wednesday. He had three multi-hit games, and also walked three times and stole two bases on Thursday. Kipnis led the team with five runs scored, and his 2016 campaign is off to an excellent start.
Francisco Lindor
Lindor's .240/.240/.440 batting line isn't especially good, but he also stole a couple bases and played his usual strong defense at shortstop. Lindor didn't have any extra-base hits during the first week, but he homered and doubled twice last week, and drove in a team-high four runs.
Danny Salazar
Salazar struck out nine Rays in six shutout innings Thursday afternoon, and allowed only three hits. Three walks contributed to his pitch count rising too high for him to work any deeper into the game, but six scoreless innings is a result I'll always be happy to get from a starter.
The Winner
Kipnis is an easy choice among the position players. Between the two pitchers, Salazar not allowing any runs and picking up one extra strikeout is nice, but I think Carrasco going two extra innings and not walking anyone means his performance was the more impressive of the two. For me though, it wasn't quite enough top Kipnis, who had a number of really good games during the week. Congratulations, Jason!